Dubinsky helps Rangers to third straight win

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Dubinsky helps Rangers to third straight win

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- A year ago, the New York Rangers wereunsure of what they had in Brandon Dubinsky. Now, they have aplayer who seems to have a knack for scoring clutch goals.

Dubinsky scored the game-winning goal and collected two assistsas the Rangers posted a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawkson Friday night.

Defenseman Wade Redden and Nikolai Zherdev also tallied in theirhome debuts with the Rangers, who are 3-0-0 for the first timesince 1989-90. The Rangers have won their last four openinggames at Madison Square Garden.

Aaron Voros chipped in with a goal and an assist and HenrikLundqvist made 30 saves for New York, which began the campaignlast weekend in Prague, Czech Republic with a pair of 2-1 winsover Tampa Bay.

"It feels good to get in here and get some confidence with newteammates," Lundqvist said. "So far, it's going good."

Patrick Kane and defenseman Duncan Keith scored for Chicago,which fell to 15-21-6 in season openers on the road.

"We knew our assignments, but we just didn't do it," Blackhawkscoach Denis Savard said. "We had about 30 shots and we probablymissed the net 10 to a dozen times. We had good chances wherewe could have buried some of them. We had enough chances towin."

Voros snapped a 1-1 tie 5:15 into the second period with hisfirst goal in 37 games dating to December 26 while a member ofthe Minnesota Wild. After setting up Voros' tally, Dubinskygave the Rangers some breathing room by scoring on a breakawaywith 4:35 remaining in the session.

It turned out to be Dubinsky's second career winning goal. Hisfirst came last Saturday, when he tallied on the power play inthe third period vs. the Lightning.

"What I see now is a kid that does not want to let thisopportunity go," New York coach Tom Renney said. "That bodeswell for us."

Dubinsky's goal gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead, but they struggledto clear their own zone and saw the advantage shrink to one whenKeith beat Lundqvist from the slot at 7:13 of the third period.

Dubinsky, who scored 14 goals in his rookie season, helped sealthe win by picking up an assist on a goal by Zherdev, who beatgoaltender Cristobal Huet to the glove side with a wrist shotfrom the top of the slot at 9:33.

After registering one shot on goal in 9 1/2 minutes of action inthe home opener last season, Dubinsky tied a career high withthree points in this one.

"The home opener for me last year, I was scared," he said. "Igot out there and I was really nervous. I think I might havefallen like three times in my first four shifts. But it doesn'treally change too much either.

"Obviously, you build up all summer and all training camp tohave this night. It's a nerve-racking night and you want toshow your fans what you can do."

Huet turned aside 25 shots for the Blackhawks, who fell to15-21-6 in season openers on the road.

"It's not the end result we wanted," said Huet, who signed alucrative four-year contract over the summer. "It'sdisappointing to lose the first one."

Redden opened the scoring by burying the rebound of captainChris Drury's shot from the right faceoff circle at 6:47 of thefirst. Lundqvist made several big saves to preserve the lead,including one on a shot by Patrick Sharp during a 2-on-1 rushmidway through the period, but allowed the equalizer late.

Defenseman Brian Campbell carried the puck down the left wingand banked it off the side of the net. The puck went directlyto Kane, who fired it past Lundqvist from the bottom of the leftcircle with 2:42 remaining to forge a 1-1 tie.

Voros put New York back in front at 5:15 of the second.Dubinsky stole the puck from Dave Bolland in the offensive zoneand dished it to Voros, who beat Huet with a one-timer from oneknee.

"I saw (Voros) right away," Dubinsky said. "It was rolling onme. A puck like that is not easy to shoot. He made a real niceshot and scored a big goal for us."

Voros was impressed with his linemate's performance.

"He's got a lot of confidence," Voros said. "He played with acouple of phenomenal players (in Jaromir Jagr and Scott Gomezlast season), and it was the biggest thing for him."